Australian Business Awards 2015

Media Release

App that delivers the cost of construction in less than a minute wins ABA100 for Product Innovation

14th Aug 2015 – Project management software company UniPhi has been recognised as an ABA100 Winner in The Australian Business Awards 2015 for a bespoke app, which can provide the indicative cost of constructing a commercial building in less than a minute.

The app, named GUIDE, was developed by UniPhi on behalf of AECOM, a global construction company headquartered in the USA.

“We are especially proud to receive this recognition because the app has revolutionised the way our client works and it has much broader positive ramifications for the industry,” UniPhi Managing Director Mark Heath says.

This is the second consecutive win for UniPhi in the ABA100. The company was recognised for Innovation in 2014 after tailoring their enterprise management software for AECOM’s Global Unite project – a client servicing module that captured snapshots of project information from cost estimating tools and directed them to a global data warehouse, where they were aggregated and could be harvested for use within any of AECOM’s 120 offices across the globe.

GUIDE was the final stage of this project and was built to be accessed by portable devices from anywhere in the world. It allows users to produce cost estimates or benchmark information across a huge range of project types such as health and education buildings, commercial buildings, residential buildings, railways, roads, and even power stations.

“There is no other app like GUIDE in the market,” says UniPhi Managing Director Mark Heath.

“Benchmarking used to be comparing one project to four or five others, whereas we are now able to compare to an average of thousands of projects. Using big data like this allows you to have intelligence that you couldn’t have dreamt of before,” Heath says.

He says prior to the app it could take a week or so to do an early stage cost estimate, and it often relied on the tacit knowledge of one person.

“This app allows a cost consultant to sit with a client in a café and work through some basic design parameters to give that client an accurate indicative cost for any type of building or infrastructure within a minute.”

“The idea of GUIDE was to assist with early estimates, but the client actually compared it with more detailed estimates and it has come back right on the money,” he says.

Each year the ABA100 Winners are recognised through a variety of different award categories that demonstrate business and product innovation. Corporate, government and non-government organisations are acknowledged for implementing well-managed industry leading initiatives and for the research and development of high-performing products and services.

The Product Innovation award recognises product leadership through the practical application of innovative solutions for new and existing market needs offering a point of difference from their competitors.

Ms Tara Johnston, ABA100 Program Director, says, “For a decade, The Australian Business Awards have conducted knowledge building programs which focus on organisations that prioritise innovation and technology as they continue to drive local and international markets.

“The ABA100 Winners have demonstrated innovative, enterprising and technologically advanced business initiatives and products that support an obvious transformation coinciding with the ever-changing, highly competitive business environment.

“High-performing, intelligent organisations that continuously and effectively improve their processes and products are set to survive the long term challenges faced by all Australian businesses,” Ms Johnston added.

-ENDS-

About UniPhi

Award winning Sydney-based technology company, UniPhi is on the front-line of innovative web and mobile solutions for project, portfolio and program management.

The software behind UniPhi was officially launched in 2005 – recognising that managing complex projects requires more flexibility than traditional methods like Gannt charts and spreadsheets can provide.

UniPhi provides adaptive solutions to complex problems. It bridges the gap between on-the-job effort and project value, and allows organisations to stop improvising solutions and start maximising opportunities in an unpredictable, emergent marketplace.

UniPhi has been recognised as an ABA100 Winner in The Australian Business Awards in both 2014 and 2015, for Innovation and Product Innovation respectively.